Pirates’ Rodolfo Castro has phone fall out of pocket during third-base slide

Some big league call-ups are more memorable than others. 

For Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro, Tuesday’s call-up from Triple-A Indianapolis will be one he’ll always remember, even if there are moments he’d probably prefer to forget. 

After drawing a walk in the fourth inning, Castro took third on a single by Oneil Cruz. As Castro slid headfirst into third, his cellphone fell out of his back pocket, causing umpire Adam Hamari to point out the blunder. 

It was an embarrassing mistake for Castro, especially after making it back to the big leagues for the first time since being demoted in June. 

ANGELS’ SHOHEI OHTANI CONTINUES TO AMAZE, JOINING BABE RUTH, PASSING ICHIRO SUZUKI IN SAME GAME

“I don’t think there’s any professional ballplayer that would ever go out there with any intentions of taking a cellphone,” Castro told Pittsburgh media members through an interpreter. “It’s horrible it happened to me. Obviously, it was very unintentional.”

“My first day back, if I was to be the center of attention, I would want it to be helping the team win, but never in this form,” Castro added. “This is definitely something that was an accident, a mistake, something I’m going to learn from. But definitely something I didn’t mean to happen.”

MARINERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YANKEES BASE-RUNNING BLUNDERS IN WALK-OFF WIN

Pirates manager Derek Shelton said Castro put his sliding mitt in his pocket, not realizing that his cellphone was underneath. 

“You stay around the game and you see things you haven’t seen before,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “This was just a kid who made a mistake. It’s just one of those things we move forward from and tell him, ‘You can’t do that.’”

Castro went hitless in his return to the big leagues as the Pirates lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4. 

Castro has appeared in 22 games for the Pirates this season, hitting .189 in 82 plate appearances. He was sent to the minor leagues on June 5 after committing an error and failing to run out a pop-fly the day before. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report